


Helping Hand

by justheretobreakthings



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Big Brother Shiro (Voltron), Fluff, Friendship, Galaxy Garrison, Gen, Pre-Canon, Pre-Kerberos Mission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-17
Updated: 2019-03-17
Packaged: 2019-11-21 12:31:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,511
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18142220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/justheretobreakthings/pseuds/justheretobreakthings
Summary: Relying on anyone but himself to get through school is still a new concept to Keith.





	Helping Hand

**Author's Note:**

> For [atalana](http://atalana.tumblr.com/) on tumblr.

“Keith?” came the voice that startled him out of his sleep. Keith whipped his head up, pink indents on his cheek from the buttons of the calculator on top of which he’d fallen asleep, and came face-to-face with a familiar set of concerned gray eyes.

“Hey Shiro,” he said through a yawn. ”You scared me.”

“I noticed” Shiro said. “What are you doing here?”

"Homework. It’s the library.” Keith gestured toward the books and papers spread out before him on the desk. “What else would I be doing?”

“How long have you been here?” Shiro asked as he slid into a chair across from him and frowned down at the empty coffee cups in front of him. “And since when did you start liking coffee?”

Keith rubbed at his eyes and tried to blink them into focus. “I don’t really, it just - it keeps me awake.”

Shiro raised a brow. “So when I showed up, you were just resting your eyes?”

“No, but - but they worked for a while…”

“Hmm.” Shiro’s eyes scanned the study materials spread across the table. “What gives, Keith? How much homework do you have?”

“I’ve finished all the stuff I’ve got due, actually,” Keith answered. “I’m just, um, studying.”

“Got big tests coming up?”

“Well, um…”

“Did you get any sleep at all last night, Keith? Because you sure don’t look it.”

Keith just shrugged in answer, and Shiro folded his arms on the desk and leaned toward him. “Nightmares?” he asked softly.

“No.”

“Feeling sick?”

“No. Just studying.”

“Huh. Well, it sounds like you need a break,” Shiro said. He reached out to put his hand on the book right in front of Keith and inched it toward himself. “What say you head to your dorm for a nap?”

Keith swatted Shiro’s hand away and pulled the book back. “No thanks,” he muttered.

Shiro’s frown deepened. “All right, well, even if you don’t wanna sleep right now, you should at least take a little break from studying. Wanna pack up your stuff and - ?”

“No, I’m good.”

“Keith, you really need to - ”

“I need to study.”

“Why?” Shiro demanded. “If you’ve already finished your homework and you don’t have any tests coming up, and finals are still over a month away…”

Keith shrugged again. “So sue me for wanting to keep my grades up.”

“Your grades are fine.” Keith dropped his gaze and shrank into his chair, and Shiro furrowed his brow. “Wait, your grades are fine, aren’t they? Did something happen?”

Keith mumbled a reply, too low for Shiro to hear him, and he had to prompt him to repeat, still barely audibly, “I bombed a quiz.”

“Oh…”

“In physics. I - I got a D.”

Shiro hummed in sympathy. Another glance toward the textbook in front of Keith, and to the title at the top of the page, told him that it was ‘General Physics: Mechanics and Particle Dynamics.’ Made sense. Pretty much all the Garrison students who weren’t on the engineering path tended to struggle with physics. “Been there,” Shiro said. “Flunked a couple of assignments in that class my first year too. I can ask Matt to help you study for the next one if you want, he used to be a big help to me.”

“Okay…” Keith said quietly.

“Don’t you fret about it, bud,” Shiro said with a small smile. “One bad grade isn’t going to kill you.” Keith remained quiet, and Shiro used the silence to look at some of the other surrounding books and notes. “You had homework in all these classes?”

“Um, not all of them. Just, uh, figured it was worth brushing up on them.”

“ _Stars and Stellar Systems_ ,” Shiro read aloud. “I thought you were basically top of that class?”

“Well, yeah, but, um - ”

“English composition, biology… Keith, uh… it’s not that I don’t admire the work ethic, because I do, but - what’s up? You don’t need to be cracking down this hard right now. You’ve been doing fine.”

Keith shook his head. “No, that’s the thing, I haven’t been. The quiz - ”

“One bombed quiz isn’t gonna kill your grade,” Shiro said. “And we can work on the physics, get Matt on board. If you want, I could ask your teacher about extra credit or a make-up test or - ”

 _“No,”_  Keith snapped, a sudden ferocity in his voice and his face falling into a glare.

Shiro blinked in surprise. “Uh… okay, we don’t  _have_  to. I just thought, if you were worried about your grade…”

“I just have to study harder, that’s all,” Keith said. “I don’t need you pulling any strings for me, okay?”

“All right, Keith, that’s fine, I was just trying to help.”

“Why, what, you think I can’t do it on my own?!”

A pause of silence rang between them, before Shiro took a deep breath and asked, “Keith, is something else bothering you, besides the bad quiz?”

“No,” Keith said, crossing his arms and glaring down at his book.

“Hm. You know, Keith, you’re pretty talented at a lot of things, but lying isn’t one of them.” Shiro stood from his seat and moved to a chair on the other side of the table, so he was sitting beside Keith instead of across from him. “You can talk to me if something’s on your mind.”

Keith stayed quiet. Under his crossed arm Shiro could see Keith’s thumb moving, running back a forth over his curled forefinger, his own little nervous tic. “If there’s anything I can do to help - ”

“No,” Keith said softly. “Please, just - stop helping.”

“… Keith, is that the problem? You think I’ve been, what, helping you too much?”

Keith gave a little shrug as his answer, and Shiro sighed. “Keith, I - I’m sorry, if I’ve been a little overbearing. I never meant to smother you or anything. I just - well, I just want to see you succeed here, that’s all.”

“I know.”

“But if having me help you out has been bothering you…”

“It’s not - I mean - I - ” Keith took a deep breath. “I just need to… prove that I can do it on my own.”

“Prove to whom? Me? Yourself?”

“No, um, to - well, um - ”

“Yeah?”

Keith squirmed in his seat before he quietly continued, “Everyone still thinks that I only got into the Garrison because you put in a good word for me. And they think the only reason I’m still around is that you cover for me when I mess up.”

“Keith,” Shiro said softly, “You know full well that that’s not true.” Again, Keith was quiet, and Shiro furrowed his brow as he set a comforting hand on the younger boy’s knee. “You  _do_  know that’s not true, right?”

“I - I - I just want to make sure I can - I can actually do this. Without your help. Without you and Matt and Adam and Commander Holt. But - but I know I screw it up sometimes, and you’ve always gotta help when I do, so I just have to… not screw up.”

“And… that’s why you’re studying so hard right now?”

“I guess.”

Shiro drummed his fingers softly against the surface of the table for several moments, as Keith kept silent, head down. Finally, Shiro spoke. “Keith, do you know what a ‘support system’ is?”

Keith looked up. “Um…”

“It’s a network of people that help a person by, well, supporting them. Practically or emotionally.”

“Oh. Um, okay?”

“And everyone deserves to have one. It’s the whole ‘no man is an island’ thing. You shouldn’t have to get through life on your own. And when you reach for a goal like being a pilot for the Garrison, you  _can’t_  go it alone. That’s why you’ve got a crew with you, you know?

“I know that a lot of this is still, um, new to you, Keith. But letting other people help you, and have your back - it’s not cheating. It’s a good thing. Everyone here at the Garrison is getting help in some way or another. Whether it’s tutoring or dealing with stress or financial help or getting to be social or - well, anything. You’re not doing anything by accepting help that all the other students here aren’t doing too.

“You deserve the help, Keith. And it doesn’t make you any less of a good student, or a good pilot. Trust me. I’ve got some sway around the Garrison, sure, but me putting in a good word for you wouldn’t have been enough to get you into the cadet program if you weren’t capable of succeeding in it. Which you are. Needing some help along the way isn’t going to change that.”

Keith stayed quiet after Shiro finished, so the older boy pushed his chair back and stood, stretching. “Welp, I guess I shouldn’t distract you anymore. I’ll let you get back to your studying.”

He turned away, but was stopped by a hand on his sleeve. “Um, Shiro?” Keith said.

“Yeah?”

“I actually, um… I think I’m done studying for now. I should - I should probably take a break.”

Shiro smiled. “Good idea, kiddo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Want a mini fic from me to you? I'm writing little one-shots for anyone who writes a fic or makes art that features aro/ace Keith, and tags me in it @justheretobreakthings on tumblr!


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